Fabaceae FAMILY

Psophocarpus scandens

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Botanical Description

Psophocarpus scandens is a vigorous, herbaceous perennial, climbing plant producing stems 1 - 6 metres long from a non-tuberous rootstock. The stems scramble over the ground and twine into other shrubs etc for support. The plant is mainly gathered from the wild as a food plant for local use and regional trade. However, it is also sporadically grown in several parts of the tropics, where it is used mostly as a cover crop in plantations, a green manure and as a vegetable[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ].

Habitat & Origin

Origintropical

Native RangeTropical Africa - Nigeria to Sudan, south to Angola, Zambia, Mozambique and Madagascar.

HabitatPrefers swampy localities, periodically flooded forest and river banks, but occurs also in drier localities such as grassland, thickets and fallow land[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ].